Zimbabwe vs Australia 2008

Australia had fallen from grace somewhat to Number 5 in the world Rankings but most of the Zimbabwean players had grown up in the Aussie glory days.
After 5 good, almost competitive ODI's, The Australians winning 4-1 but the first test was drawn.

The Zimbabweans had a world-class opening partnership in Hamilton Masakadza and AJ Ryder and the next 3; Marillier,Goodwin and Vermuelen weren't bad. Gary Brent took a 6 for in the opening Test.
Ponting won the toss and elected to bat.
Langer, Hayden and Bevan made 74,68 and 74 respectively but they were the only scores of more than 40 as Gary Brent took a 5 for taking the wickets of Hussey, Katich, Bevan, Lee and Dawes. Australia made 360 all out.
Zimbabwe didn't make a good start with Masakadza and Marillier gone for just 13 runs on the scoreboard but 49 from captain Goodwin and 57 from Neil Ferreira the wicket-keeper batting at 8 he had added 74 for the 9th wicket with Brent who made 32. Zimbabwe were all out for 258, 102 behind Australia.

Second time round Australia batted well again with 80 from Katich, 77 from Martyn and 61 from Hayden. But for some batters and bowlers it was double dissapointment; Hussey: 7 and 13, Ponting 12 and 27, Streak 92-1 and 77-1. But the star once again was Gary Brent, 6 wickets ; Hayden, Katich, Langer, Martyn, Lee, Dawes. Australia hit 322 all out. Setting Zimbabwe 425 in 4 and a half sessions. Can it be done?

Ryder fell for Zimbabwe with the score on 50 and this brought together Masakadza and Marillier who's partnership was broken up.. with Marillier on 101 they had put on 190 together and the score was 240-2. Masakadza fell on 146 having added 73 with Goodwin. Goodwin fell after putting on just 21 with Vermeulen leaving the score at 334-4. 91 in around a session needed for Vermeulen and Gratrix in his 14th Test.
The match would end after 130 overs of the innings. After 122 Zimbabwe were 389-4 but Ponting strangely brought on Katich and Martyn with strange results... just 3 overs later-125- Zimbabwe were 408-4. 19 runs off 3 overs!
27 needed in 5 overs. 9,8. 415-4. 10 needed in 3!
128.1 Martyn to Vermulean: Single.
128.2 Martyn to Gratrix: Quickly run single.
128.3 Martyn to Vermulean: 8 needed, Martyn's medium pace cover driven for 4!
128.4 Martyn to Vermulean: Vermulean drives past the bowler it's hit the fence!!! Zimbabwe win by 6 wickets! Vermulean 48 not out! Gratrix 43 not out!!! Zimbabwe win chasing 425 against Australia!!!!
Zimbabwe guarentee a draw against Australia!

i just played one with my england side in 2053 against india and requiring 515 on the 4th and 5th day on a turning wicket we got in 3 down, an amazing test match i will right about it shortly. the screen shot is in my post named my england side......

Career cricket 311 wickets @16.54 and 3021 runs @ 34.56 from 176 games over 11 years H.S 178* Member of the CW Green

Australia's 2nd innings: 2 sessions to get 206 runs: Australia started off very shakily losing Langer without him troubling the scorers. Ponting fell a short time later when we had only posted 32. Hayden and Martyn upped the anti, trying to reach the target within the amount of time remaining. They found themselves in a good position at 2/99, but then panic struck! First Hayden, then Hussey, and then Gilchrist with the score at a dismal 5/115 still 91 short of the target. Martyn and Watson were at the crease now and they knew one of them had to stay at the crease till the end of the game if they were to win it. 23 runs later Martyn was gone and Australia were revelling at 6/138, 68 runs behind. Cameron White played a short innings, getting a couple of singles then hitting a boundary to mid off, 3 balls later he was on his way back to the pavilion. Warne was next in and as he entered, Watson departed. 8/151 and the Australian fans hearts beating a million miles a second. With still 55 runs to get and over an hour and half to get them, Warne and Gillespie played it safe, playing very defensively, blocking out most balls and collecting the odd single. They had a plan, all out defence till there's 30 mins left and then go for it. They exectued it perfectly until Muralitharan struck with Warne edging him to the slips. McGrath walked onto the ground, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd of 30,000. It was 9/192 and they still needed 14 runs. McGrath and Gillespie slowly got 13 runs. There was 3 overs remaining, 1 wicket left, and 1 more run to get. Balls 1 to 5 of the 3rd last over were dot ball with just McGrath blocking them back to the bowler and letting them through to the keeper. The last ball of the over saw McGrath trying to whip the ball onto the leg side but the result was a play and miss and the ball just missing the leg stump. Muralitharan was to bowl the last over. First ball was pitched wide of off stump and Gillespie took advantage of this, cutting the ball to point and getting the winning run! The crowd errupted.

good summary of the 2nd inns aswell. I was jsut wondering whether you have editied some of the players using magpie or not, coz it is quite unusual to see Watson score more than 10 runs - lol - he is useless for me, how is he, and where i have heard good signs from some people - Cam White?

The only person i edited was David Hussey because he wasn't in the game. Watson gets more than 10 on various occassions for me, although hes' a shocking bowler. Warne and Gillespie saved us with their batting in that game, I just set them to very defensive till the last 30 mins when they were set to normal.

I just had a great test match, my youth-packed Zimbabwe team against New Zealand, 2nd test, December 2006. Every test I had played in this game so far had been a big loss for Zimbabwe, and the first test of the series went NZ's way by an innings.

A similar result looked possible when Zimbabwe were knocked over for just 188 in their first innings, with only N.Barlow (playing just his 2nd test) getting a decent score with a respectable 66. Tuffey took 4-34 and Vettori, who took 12 wickets in the first test, took another 3 for 54.

NZ started very strongly in their first innings and were 261/3 at one point but Engelbrecht (3-39) and Lamb (3-70) both bowled quite well to trigger a collapse by NZ to be all out for 305. McMillan got 120 and Sinclair 89.

Trailing by 117, Zimbabwe needed a good second innings. And they definitely got one. Things were looking a bit worrying at 60/3, but then the big partnerships started. Captain A.Brummer, who had managed 2 first ball ducks and a 1 in his 3 innings in the series to date, chose a perfect time to find his best form with 69 in an important partnership of 109 with M.James, who followed up that partnership with a match-turning stand of 181 for the 5th wicket with Travis Friend. James scored a career-best 142 and Friend was even better, giving very few chances in his maiden test century with his score of 163. Zimbabwe eventually bowled out for a brilliant 543, setting NZ 427 to win.

NZ were reduced to 124/5, a first test win in many years looking quite likely for Zimbabwe. But then Richardson and Fleming put on 183 for the 6th wicket in a partnership that lasted 233 minutes and made a draw the most likely result. At tea on the final day Zimbabwe still needed to break the partnership and take 5 wickets in the final session to win. On came Travis Friend, who looked tired from his marathon 163 when he came on for his first spell as the first change bowler. But this time he took 3 quick wickets to finish with 3-41 and 19 year old spinner T.Harris took the last 2 wickets to dismiss NZ for 332 and get a 94 run victory.

This isn't the best/highest-scoring/etc. match, but it was a very good display and it was pleasing to finish the 3 test series with some consolation... (I am West Indies)

Australia v West Indies
3rd Test Match - 7 Dec 2004

The West Indies, after a strong showing in previous test series against New Zealand and England, had performed poorly in Australia, having lost the series after two games. They went into the third test determined to perform.

AUSTRALIA - 1ST INNINGS

Ponting won the toss and went into bat, the Australians getting to 3/103 before Katich and Hussey came in to bring the score to 4/237. Some desperate batting from the tail brought the Aussies to 323 all out, Katich top scorer with a magnificent 120, McGarrell taking 5/125.

A steady opening partnership of 40 between Sarwan and Campbell help the visitors establish some partnerships, though no partnerships reached the 50 mark, nor did any batsmen, Sarwan the highest scorer with 44. Many batsmen got off to starts - but failed to continue, which ultimately left the West Indies stuck all out for 222, only scraping to that total thanks to some good batting by the tail.

The West Indies bowling attack came out desperate to improve of their dismal form and the poor bowling that was witnessed in the first innings. This happened, with Australia quickly losing Hayden for 9 and Langer for 10. Some ineffective partnerships followed and the home side, with the help of skipper Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee made it to 6/152, where they were looking good for 200+. Ramnarine struck and claimed the three last batsmen, Australia losing 4 wickets for just 1 run, all out for 153. A good bowling effort by the West Indies saw the batsmen set 255 to win.

Desperate to maintain face after losing the first two matches with little resistance, Sarwan and Campbell slowly took the score to 1/93. Some wickets fell in quick succession and the West Indies were 4/154, possible looking at a third consecutive defeat. Gayle and Samuels looked threatening, putting on 21 runs before Samuels fell victim to a great Ricky Ponting catch. A good defensive display by the lower order, an unbeaten 80 run partnership between Gayle (60*) and Jacobs (25*) lifted the Windies to a 5 wicket victory, scoring 5/255. Unfortunately Simon Katich (120 & 20) won Man of the Match despite some good West Indian bowling.

I just had a great test match, my youth-packed Zimbabwe team against New Zealand, 2nd test, December 2006. Every test I had played in this game so far had been a big loss for Zimbabwe, and the first test of the series went NZ's way by an innings.

A similar result looked possible when Zimbabwe were knocked over for just 188 in their first innings, with only N.Barlow (playing just his 2nd test) getting a decent score with a respectable 66. Tuffey took 4-34 and Vettori, who took 12 wickets in the first test, took another 3 for 54.

NZ started very strongly in their first innings and were 261/3 at one point but Engelbrecht (3-39) and Lamb (3-70) both bowled quite well to trigger a collapse by NZ to be all out for 305. McMillan got 120 and Sinclair 89.

Trailing by 117, Zimbabwe needed a good second innings. And they definitely got one. Things were looking a bit worrying at 60/3, but then the big partnerships started. Captain A.Brummer, who had managed 2 first ball ducks and a 1 in his 3 innings in the series to date, chose a perfect time to find his best form with 69 in an important partnership of 109 with M.James, who followed up that partnership with a match-turning stand of 181 for the 5th wicket with Travis Friend. James scored a career-best 142 and Friend was even better, giving very few chances in his maiden test century with his score of 163. Zimbabwe eventually bowled out for a brilliant 543, setting NZ 427 to win.

NZ were reduced to 124/5, a first test win in many years looking quite likely for Zimbabwe. But then Richardson and Fleming put on 183 for the 6th wicket in a partnership that lasted 233 minutes and made a draw the most likely result. At tea on the final day Zimbabwe still needed to break the partnership and take 5 wickets in the final session to win. On came Travis Friend, who looked tired from his marathon 163 when he came on for his first spell as the first change bowler. But this time he took 3 quick wickets to finish with 3-41 and 19 year old spinner T.Harris took the last 2 wickets to dismiss NZ for 332 and get a 94 run victory.

It came right down to the wire. India batted so defensive, with Muzmadar the perfect example, scoring 98 off 441 balls. England had a strong middle order partnership between Strauss and Bassano to get England close to the lead, with Bassano carrying on to another century. India went for 215 in there second inns, giving a target of 294 with 4 sessions to do it in.

I started off shakey, losing out of form, Vaughan and then Trescothick late in the session, to bring the side to 2/91 at stumbs, leaving just over 200 runs remaining to win. Bassano and Thorpe held on with a 5 partnership, but Bell fell and things were looking even. At lunch, Bassano and Strauss were at the crease, needing 135 to win, in 2 sessions. Strauss went when the score was 226, still needing under 68 with 5 wkts in hand. Foster and Bassano batted right throughout most of the session, until Bassano went for 114, scoring a century in both innings. 33 runs needed with 4 wkts in hand.

Franks went first ball in the last session, and then Sidebottom and Hutchison stood by Foster to take the required runs to 3 before both bowlers went.

There were 8 maidens in a row, including chances in 6 of the overs. But Foster soon set off for a run, and then got another whilst Hoggard blocked out the rest. Time had run out, and only 2 overs left in the match. The English side looked very very shaky. Foster was at the crease. They ran on a risky leg bye to win the match.

Australia vs New Zealand, 26th Jan 2009Australia won the toss and elected to bat

Report:
Australia were dismissed cheaply in the first innings, not even making the 200 mark. From 5/60, they kind of steadied but even with their long batting lineup batting all the way down to No.11 they weren't able to produce a substancial total.

New Zealand were then at the crease and absolutely demolished the Australian attack hitting over 200 from Cameron White, and leaving Australia with a lot of work to do to even get a total for New Zealand to chase.

In their second innings, Australia found batting a lot more easier. A 200+ opening stand between openers Mike Hussey and Matthew Hayden set Australia up for a huge total. But with a constant flow of wickets and runs, Australia needed a decent partnership and at 9/464 Australia looked down and out. The most unlikely of players, Brett Lee and Terry Righton put their heads down and made a 115 run partnership for the last wicket.

New Zealand needed 265 runs for victory. With over 4 sessions to play New Zealand looked the favourites. But with Lee and Righton picking up the first six wickets for only 84 runs, Australia had the box seat. White and Watson cleaned up the next four wickets for only 2 runs, and Australia had won the first test match of the series.

I chased down 280 with SA against Aus in 1 and a half sessions with the pitch offering huge assistance to both pace and spin. I needed 12 off the last over of the match and got it hitting a four off the very last ball of the test. I would have got a screen of it but I don't know how to?

I only found out last month, but the way to get a screen shot is, get the selected screenshot up on your computer you want to copy, to copy press "prt scr_sysrq" button, which you will find next to scroll lock, and above insert.

This button copies what is on your computer screen, including toolbar etc. pretty cool stuff. All you do is press that button once, and then go into paint, and paste - you will see what you had on the screen when you pressed the button. Do what you want with it and save it.

Too get it onto the forum, either go to manage attachments when posting a message, or simply go to image shack and upload the saved file (too save no hassles save the file as a JPEG file in Paint instead of Bitmap). Once uploaded just go to the pic of the image and copy that URL (Right Click on image, go to Properties, and copy URL) and paste in the URL inside [IMG] and /IMG] Links on this forum.

complicated, you might know how to do the second part, but because i was on the topic, i decided to explain it fully.

England, having both lost and drawn twice already in the five match series against South Africa were already guaranteed defeat, though that isn't to say they weren't desperate for a victory. England coach Robertinho Dela Cruz had opted to include S. Dawes, an all-rounder, as his fourth bowler in the side, a gamble which put extra pressure on specialist bowler, but increased the batting depth. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat.

South Africa - 1st Innings
Captain Graeme Smith fell victim to a superb Pietersen catch off Hayward in the first over for 1, South Africa cut to 1/3. Youngster Julian Klusener (Superb player, scored a double century in one of the tests) and old hand Kallis stabilised the innings before Kallis was bowled by Walker for 16, the score 2/51. Kent and Klusener lasted 38 runs until Walker struck again, the same delivery that got Kallis, clean bowling him for 15, South Africa looking shaky at 3/89. Some good batting from Puttick and Klusener followed as the pair put on 65 runs, Klusener run out for 93, South Africa 4/154. Puttick (86), McKenzie (32), Kemp (33) and Boucher (27) managed to take the home side to 359, Walker taking 3/79 and Hayward 3/59.

England - 1st Innings
The Worcestershire boys, Kael and Marston, both of whom had excellent domestic seasons with averages of over 50, came to the crease, desperate to give England their consolation win. Kael came out smashing, though quickly going out for 14, the score only 1/17. Some patient batting from Marston (30) and youngster O'Neill took the score to 2/100. Another youngster, Benham, teamed up with O'Neill but the partnership was short lived, O'Neill (59) caught by Klusener at 3/134. From here, the batting was dismal, only Pietersen (25) and Nash (20) getting close to a reasonable score. England bowled out for 202. The gamble with all-rounder Dawes seemed to have failed, him only taking 2/89 and managing a duck. England were 157 runs behind.

South Africa - 2nd Innings
Graeme Smith, having trouble finding form, played well alongside Klusener (29) in an opening partnership of 62, the lead extended to 219. Kallis and Smith came in, playing beautiful strokes on every side of the ground, the score moving along to a formidable 2/195 until Kallis was caught off Walker for 64, South Africa's lead 352 runs. Kent came out and faced one ball from Walker, caught in the exact same way as Kallis had been the previous ball, Walker on his hattrick. In form Puttick came out, feeling the pressure. A bad stroke, a nippy off cutter and he was bowled! Walker claims his first international hattrick, Kallis, Kent and Puttick, South Africa having been cut down from 1/195 to 4/195 in just three balls. 3 runs later, McKenzie was the third consecutive batsmen to be dismissed for a duck, bowled by Tremlett, South Africa 5/198. Wickets fell incredibly quickly, South Africa all out for 242, Smith top scorer with a brilliant 106.

England - 2nd Innings
Chasing a seemingly impossible lead (given their current form) of 399, England went out feeling the pressure of being the underdogs. Kael's natural aggression saw him (35) throw away a good start, England 1/47, needing 353 to win. Marston (56) and O'Neill (47) enjoyed a vitalising 100 run partnership, lifting the Poms to 2/147, requiring another 253 runs. O'Neill fell soon after, the score 3/154. Benham and Pietersen hurried the score along with a quick 31 run stand, Benham (16) trapped in front by Shaw, the score 4/185, things looking bad for England, still requiring 215 runs with only 6 wickets in hand. Bell and Pietersen piled on the runs in a 79 run partnership, Bell (43) caught, the score at 5/264, England needing 136 runs with 5 wickets in hand. Nash scored a disappointing 20 in a 38 run stand with Pietersen, the score now 6/302. Pietersen had gotten his eye in a long time ago, and Dawes came out, hoping to prove his place in the team. Hitting a four off the first ball, things were looking dangerous for South Africa, only 98 runs required with 4 wickets in hand. The partnership was, however, shortlived, Dawes caught on 7, the score only moving along to 7/311. Walker, the star bowler with match figures of 9/132 (which included a wonderful 6/53) came on, 89 runs required with just 3 wickets in hand. Some excellent rotation of strike by Pietersen and some solid batting from Walker saw a record 8th wicket stand of 90 win the match for England by 3 wickets. Pietersen with a match winning 121* and a crucial 24* from Walker. Walker won a well deserved Man of the Match award.